Happy Chinese Mardi Gras New Year, Tiger!

Eat up that king cake, drain those booze bottles. Today is Fat Tuesday, Mardis Gras in French, the last day before Lent. Starting tomorrow, it's 40 days of atonement and fasting. Which means we need to get rid all of those evil temptations (like sweets, booze and fatty foods) today. But as it happens, we hit the jackpot this year -- Fat Tuesday is also the last day of the Chinese New Year celebration.

When Chinese New Year falls on a Sunday (as it did this year), the celebration lasts for three days. Good luck finding a table in a Chinatown restaurant. (It's the year of the tiger, in case you're wondering.) And speaking of tigers, I'm thinking LSU Tiger fans are going to be rocking Ragin' Cajun tonight. Odds are Mardi Gras Grill on Durham is going to be sort of busy today too.

If you are going out to dinner tonight, wear your dancing shoes. And don't be surprised to encounter bead-throwing, dragon-dancing, firecracker-popping wildness in the streets.